Outside the cabin, Zhao Ning knew the reason why Zhou Ying and Huang Yuandai had not returned for a long time.

He saw the rotten grass on the edge of the lake, scattered as far as the eye could see, and the homeless people were digging up the roots of the grass to eat.

As a rough estimate, there are more than 500 displaced people here.

This is not the first time Zhao Ning has seen refugees, in his previous life, when the flames were continuous, he had seen countless displaced people, but the tragic scene in front of him still moved him.

These homeless people are wearing the cheapest linen robes and trousers, still ragged, in the heavy snow, these people are so thin that only skin and bones remain, Rao is a young man is also full of vegetables, and occasionally the cry of a baby and child sounds, as sharp as a knife in the cold wind, Zhao Ning and the others frowned.

No matter what they look like, they are all in the mud of the river beach at the moment, digging grass roots with their hands like chicken feet. There are always a lot of reeds and weeds around the lake, but now the season is not good, most of them are rotten, only messy rhizomes remain, and there will be swimming fish in the lake, but I don't know how many these people can get.

In the face of such a scene, no matter how rich the wine, meat and food in the cabin are, it will not have half a taste for Zhao Ning, Yang Jiani, Zhou Ying, Huang Yuandai and others. No wonder Zhou Ying and Huang Yuandai didn't enter the room. At this moment, the two of them looked at this scene sadly, Rao was Huang Yuandai, who was unruly on weekdays, and his face was extremely ugly.

There weren't many boats coming and going in Onozawa this season, and there were only Zhao Ning's boats nearby, including the Lou boat at his feet and a few cargo ships traveling on the long river, but the homeless people who were collecting wild vegetables and grass roots by the lake turned a blind eye to them, obviously not having any hope for them, not thinking that they would give them food.

Without waiting for Zhao Ning's order, Hu Honglian had already ordered the cultivators of Yipinlou to gather all the food on the boat, she put down the two boats, and some men in Tsing Yi had already gotten on the boats and were ready to land.

"The West Bank of Ohno Jersey is Yuncheng County, which is quite wealthy and pays a lot of taxes every year, and there will be so many displaced people in front of you, which shows that the gap between the rich and the poor in Yuncheng has been huge.

"Although in recent decades, there have been displaced people who have lost their land every year in Qilu and the Central Plains, but most of the displaced people go to the county seat and state town, hoping to find a chance to survive in a prosperous place. ”

It was Huang Yuandai who spoke, he had a free and easy temperament, often traveled all over the world, and could be called well-informed, and when he said these words in a heavy voice, his brows had been twisted into pimples.

Yunzhou Prefecture is governed in Xuchang County, Yunzhou City is also the county seat of Xuchang, Yuncheng County is one of the counties under the jurisdiction of Yunzhou, because it relies on Onozawa, so the land is more fertile and irrigation is also very convenient, plus there is also fishery, it will naturally be a relatively rich land.

Zhao Ning was silent.

Last winter was colder than usual, and this summer was extremely hot, and it is common sense that drought and flood do not distinguish families, and the result is that the farmland is not harvested. It seems that the situation in Yuncheng County is particularly bad this year, the people can't pay taxes, and the land is annexed by the big and rich, which will create so many displaced people at this time.

The Great Qi Dynasty implemented the uniform field system, divided the land according to the population, and formed the government military system on this basis, the peasants were busy farming, idle time drills, and there were wars and border tasks to bring their own armor to fight.

If the people lose part of their land and become poor, or if there are too many people who have lost their land and cannot afford the armor and soldiers, or even if the number of soldiers decreases, the government military system will be affected.

The Yanmen army suffered a lot of losses in this year's war, and it was necessary to replenish a large number of soldiers, Yanmen Pass as the northern gate, and the source of troops was still guaranteed, but when Zhao Ning left Yanmen Pass, he found that the mood of the new soldiers was not high.

"Let the long river boat also take out all the food. ”

Zhao Ning couldn't sit back and watch the tragic situation in front of him, this year's winter was not warm, these homeless people were not clothed and fed, and they didn't know how many they would die of cold and starvation. Fortunately, their numbers are not too many, and the food of the fleet can play a big role in giving them, and as for the food of the fleet itself, they can purchase it as long as they go to the next county town and market.

"Do you want us to go to Yuncheng County? There are so many refugees here, and there must be a lot of county seats, and one county has caused so many displaced people in one winter, and you can imagine what kind of virtue the government and big households here are, if we kill a few guilty big families and divide their food, the displaced people in Yuncheng will survive. ”

Hu Honglian came to Zhao Ning's side and put forward her opinion with a solemn face. According to the Daqi system, there are more than 10,000 households in the upper county, and only a few thousand households in the middle and lower counties.

Before Zhao Ning could speak, Huang Yuandai had already opened his mouth, but he finally held back and didn't interject rashly, Zhao Ning saw that he had something to say, so he asked him to say it first.

Huang Yuandai sighed and said: "Wealth merger with land annexation as the core is the general trend of the peaceful and prosperous era, and no one can disobey it, and wealth will gradually concentrate in the hands of a few people." The four words of the jungle sound unacceptable to the common people, and they are also covered up in every possible way by the splendid article, but the reality is so.

"The plight of these displaced people is indeed miserable, but their land is bought by the big and wealthy, but it is in accordance with the law, which is the key, and the government cannot influence it.

"If a big rich man annexes land and is going to be killed, then Brother Ning will kill too many people, and he can't kill it at all. This is almost an enemy of the landlords of the world, and it does not solve the fundamental problem. Besides, the foundation of the dynasty is the big family and the big landlords, and what will happen to being the enemy of the landlords of the world, I don't think I need to say more. ”

When Hu Honglian heard this, his eyebrows immediately rose: "According to what you say, we should sit back and watch the number of homeless people continue to increase, and sit back and watch these people in front of us freeze and starve to death?!"

This time Zhao Ning went south, along the way, the Tsing Yi swordsman in Shangpinlou continued to expand his power, and cooperated with the Changhe boat line to establish rudders everywhere, the core task is to be chivalrous and righteous, hoe the strong and help the weak, if she ignores the tragic scene in front of her, what is the meaning of the existence of Tsing Yi swordsman?

Huang Yuandai thumped his lame leg that was uncomfortable because of the bad weather, and said-for-tat:

"This is a national problem, how can it be solved by individual families and forces? Even the imperial court may not be able to solve it. There are so many powerful and landlords in the world, but which one has no cultivators, and which one has no close relationship with the government? The displaced people will definitely continue to arise, and with our current strength, we will not be able to solve it at all. ”

Zhao Ning did not intervene in the argument between the two.

In fact, the issue of the two has already involved the dilemma faced by the Tsing Yi swordsman.

That is also the problem that Zhao Ning Kuang must face to support the righteousness of the world.

In a small place like Songlin Town, it is not difficult to get rid of bullies like Skinny Hu'er and Xu Xian, and make Songlin Town a "paradise", and it is easy to eradicate a strong family like the Fang family in Yunzhou City, support a big family like the Yun family to preside over the justice of the world, and check and balance each other with the government. But will this solve the fundamental problem of peace and prosperity?

In the face of natural and man-made disasters, the common people could not pay their taxes, and if they wanted not to go to prison, they had to sell their land; in the face of birth, old age, sickness and death, the commoners who had nothing to do to treat their families and did not have so much money, so they could only sell their land to the rich and wealthy.

Zhao Ning can minimize man-made disasters by punishing adultery and eliminating evil, but can he completely avoid natural disasters and diseases?

As long as natural disasters exist, as long as the world does not weather smoothly every year, and as long as the common people are still not rich enough to fully cope with the risks of disease, drought and flood, the loss of wealth and the land on which they depend for their survival will be inevitable, and the general trend of land annexation will be unavoidable.

In one winter, there are hundreds of displaced people in one Yuncheng county, and in more than 1,000 counties in more than 300 prefectures in the world, how many displaced people will be produced every year? How many displaced people will be produced in 10 years? How many displaced people will be there in 120 years?

With so many displaced people in the world, how can the world really be stable? For the displaced people, being able to eat is the greatest hope, and the threat of starvation is imminent, but who will give them food? Is the food given by Beihu poisonous?

"Brother Zhou, I will send someone to send you back to Yunzhou City, and you go to see the head of the Yun family. Zhao Ning turned his head and said to Zhou Ying. There were a large number of displaced people under the rule, and the first person to be responsible was the government, which had the responsibility of disaster relief.

Zhou Ying nodded in agreement, he knew that Zhao Ning was asking him to join forces with the Yun family, so that the matter of so many displaced people in Yunzhou could be put on the table, so that the Assassin Mansion had to come forward to solve it.

Hearing Zhao Ning's conversation with Zhou Ying, Huang Yuandai stopped arguing with Hu Honglian, he thought about it and said: "The Assassin Mansion should indeed come forward to provide disaster relief, open the granary to put grain and porridge, and focus on building simple sheds to help them keep out the cold and let them survive this cold winter." But what about after the end of winter?

"How will they survive in the coming year? The government can't keep them all the time. Disaster relief will not solve the fundamental problem, and as long as these displaced people do not regain their land, they will never be able to survive on their own.

"And there is so much land, they are all owned, and the government cannot let the big and rich people hand over their land, and the existing land has already been cultivated, and there is no need for more tenants.

"What is the most important thing that is not lacking in the peaceful and prosperous era? It is people! The population has increased, so that the large landlords have enough tenants, so these displaced people have nowhere to go and no land to plant!"

Hu Honglian interjected: "Can't the government organize displaced people to open up the wasteland?"

"Wasteland? The Central Plains Dynasty has come to this day, and almost all the places suitable for farming have become acres. In order to maintain the military system of the Juntian system, almost all the places that can be turned into acres of land have been reclaimed, how can there be so many places that can be reclaimed?"

Hearing this, Hu Hong couldn't say a word for a long time.

At the end, she said astringently: "There are frozen bones on the stinky road of Zhumen's wine and meat, this is not the troubled times of the imperial dynasty, but the general situation?"

Huang Yuandai nodded and said bluntly: "It is indeed a common situation. The difference is simply how many people die of hunger because of poverty. If there is more and more power, there will be rebellion. ”

Hu Honglian chewed on this sentence silently.

"Alright. ”

Zhao Ning waved his hand and motioned for everyone not to say more, "Let's talk about these questions later, let's do the distribution of food first." ”